So, in order to go sleep in hammocks and wash my hair in the river, I conducted a research project on reef fish of Belize. In order to do this, I read case studies of what species of fish are prominent in specific regions of the country, read through various databases like the encyclopedia of life and the florida museum of natural sciences, and googled latin names of fish for pictures that seemed to show both the fish and any color phases, curious behavior or relative size. Thus, unforeseeable hours were spent reading digital information about fish I will be encountering in real life come mid May when I travel to Belize with my Tropical Ecology class.
A lot of the fascination I have with the ocean is from physically being submerged in the ocean, out of my natural habitat and being lost amid the coral. Having to avoid swimming into fish, trying to maintain buoyancy and remembering to breath continuously are some of the distractions that come while scuba diving. Yet, being in the water with while a reef shark swims above you, being peaceful and graceful unlike our cultural understanding of a shark; being caught inside a school of blue runners; watching a yellow head jawfish burrow into the sand and argue with those fish who dare enter his territory or witnessing a sergeant major defend his eggs--all these experiences are not achieved in this way while studying the fish on a computer back in New Orleans where the Gulf or Mississippi water are profoundly murky and devoid of substantial life.
Yet, while one is diving, they have a limited field of vision due to wearing goggles and being covered in equipment that limits mobility and turning. I came close to having a dive accident (not a fun experience) and had to sit on the boat for a while. While my guide was with the others below, I happened to see a manta ray surface near the boat. My guide has spent 10 years searching for the sight of a manta ray and obviously been on a lot of dives since his occupation requires it. On a computer, however, you can look up any species of fish and access an incredible amount of information, regardless of the chance that limits divers.
So, what is the relationship between researching fish on a computer in order to prepare myself for field research at Glover's Reef in Belize? How is writing in a blog about the relationship between reading and accessing information digitally versus physically? How is reading a book that far from an e-reader when gaining first hand experience or listening to someone talk about what it is you're reading?
Lesley, this post reminds me a lot of a similar thought I had the other day in my geology class. Our professor shows us all kind of slides of exotic animals and locations. I think he likes it when the class oohs and aahs over the things and then he tells us how this elephant is endangered or that wetland is gone.
ReplyDeleteI've had the cynical thought once or twice of, "Whats the difference? The only time we will experience these animals or places is by watching these pictures. All these images could not exist and we could go on watching them on slides or on 'Planet Earth'." (an imagination ensues were we are sitting in a burnt-out bunker and the world around us is charred and radioactive, but we are all indoors watching videos of baby koalas and tree frogs)
I don't know... a sort of similar thought on representation versus experience?
I really think we need to put pressure on the oppositions that are being evoked here, between "virtual" and "physical" (in Lesley's post), and between "representation" and "experience" (in Sarah Jordan's comment). The fact is that what we call the 'virtual' *is* a kind of physical experience—it's just that the objects have been shifted in scale and space. (There are still plenty of physical things happening to make a computer work, and images appear: electricity is being generated somewhere, a circuit board is doing its thing, & plenty of other tiny processes that are beyond my scope are occurring.) Likewise, 'representation' is a kind of experience: something perceived that is still 'out there' in the world, just as much as (if also different from) actual ambling elephants. I think we need to pay close attention to this language of "versus." Maybe it's not a matter of one or the other, nor that there is a cosmic battle between the two 'sides'—rather, there is a continuum of physicality and experience that we are *always* on—indeed, that we can't ever get away from as long as we are alive.
ReplyDeleteSo we can certainly describe different experiences in the world (and Lesley has done this quite elegantly in her post), but I do not think we should assume that there are transcendental valuative or qualitative standards by which to measure human experience. Some computer programmer or hacker could probably blow our minds with elaborate descriptions of the intensities of feeling and perception that take place when working on a particular project—this becomes a matter of aesthetic judgment and phenomenological tuning-in, not a mere matter of how objectively 'real' something is, or not.
Not to sound nerdy, but there is an interesting juxtaposition between knowledge gained through reading musty books and from internet research found in the 90's teen series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." In this, the library Giles dates the computer science teacher, who teaches him about the beauty of computer science and the richness found in the immeasurable connectivity.
ReplyDeleteI do think I should pay closer attention to my language more. I'm acting a bit senile with technology, as I actually handwrite letters on thick stationary. Technology allows us to watch films rather than attend plays: these are two completely different experiences that should not be opposed to one another. I believe this is an easy way to approach the E-reader as another way of reading text.